Autobiography Essay

Contents

What is an Autobiography Essay?

To properly understand an autobiography essay and its uses, you have to start with the definition of autobiography.

An autobiography is a copy written about an individual by the individual himself. It is typically a piece that covers the story of the author but not necessarily across their entire lifetime. An autobiography sample essay is written narratively.

If the task of writing an autobiography essay feels daunting, whether due to its deeply personal nature or the challenge of presenting your life story in a compelling way, you can turn to StudyMoose's pay-for-essay services for expert help.

Autobiographies generally cover the entire lifespan of the author, but you can’t possibly write a comprehensive story of your life every time. This is where an autobiography essay comes in.

An autobiography essay is a typically shorter form of self-written biography. The main purpose of this essay is to introduce yourself convincingly and provide basic information about yourself. Colleges always ask for an autobiography essay from applicants. This essay plays a significant role in the outcome of a college application.

Employers also demand this form of essay from job applicants. In fact, an autobiography essay is a requirement when applying for any slot, be it college, job, or grant. This form of autobiography is mostly asking you to give a summary of your life.

A memoir is also a form of autobiography. A memoir tells of a particular period of your life.

How to Write an Autobiography Essay

If you’ve never had to tell someone about yourself, you would be shocked at how difficult it is to do so the first time you try. Retelling your biography even orally can leave you speechless, much more if you have to do so in written form.

Below is how to start an autobiography essay.

Check Out Good Examples

Before setting out to write your biography, your first step is to check out good autobiographies of famous people. Perusing well-written autobiography books has plenty of benefits: you grasp a clear picture of how autobiographies look, and you get the general format, tone, and structure. Lastly, you get inspired.

If you don’t know where to start, worry not; the following are good biography examples to read for guidance:

  • Dreams From My Father — Barack Obama
  • Long Walk to Freedom — Nelson Mandela
  • Chronicles, Vol 1 — Bob Dylan
  • The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin — Benjamin Franklin
  • The Story of My Experiments with Truth — Mahatma Gandhi

As you can see from these examples, you can be creative with your headings. Your essay may not necessarily be titled “An Autobiography Essay About Myself”.

Note Down The Relevant Memories

What comes next is to find and write down the more relevant memoirs. Think hard to remember the special people, noteworthy experiences, crucial events, and critical decisions that have shaped your life immensely. List all these out.

Highlight the Points to Focus On

Having pooled together the important memories, it is time to focus on a particular part. You are not writing about your entire life like an actual autobiography.

Choose a particular person, event, experience, or place from the list of memories you wrote out earlier. Making a decision here can be confusing, so the best thing to do is consider the instructions that you’ve been given. If there are none, settle for the experience your audience is very likely to appreciate and relate to.

Ask Yourself These Questions

Brainstorming can be difficult if you’re doubtful about yourself. You could sit for hours and end up with a blank slate of mind. However, a good trick is to ask yourself specific questions and provide answers to them. The following questions should make your list:

  • What three adjectives would best describe me?
  • What are the quotes that describe me best?
  • What is my family’s social and ethnic background?
  • What are my most significant achievements to date?
  • Who has helped me the most in the position I currently am in?
  • What are my three most important goals?
  • What are my top three strengths?
  • What are my top three weaknesses?
  • What books have influenced me the most?
  • What are the values guiding my existence?
  • What is the best memory I’ve ever had?
  • What is the worst memory I can think of?
  • Am I connected with my family members? If yes, how close?
  • What is the most important lesson life has taught me?
  • How intelligent do I think I am over 100?

Formulate a Good Autobiography Essay Format

The outline is a crucial step in autobiography writing, although many skip it. It can make the entire process much simpler and more productive. An outline provides you with the appropriate structure and sequence, ensuring you don’t miss out on what’s important.

Think about Statement

Arguable thesis means that it can be argued. It must either state or refute an argument about your topic. To be debateable, a thesis must have some possibility of being true. However, the thesis should not be universally accepted as true. Instead, it should be something that people can disagree with. A thesis can be both an observation or an opinion.

observation + opinion (the "why") = thesis

Seeing if your thesis creates a powerful antithesis is an excellent approach to determine how strong it is.

Common thesis pitfalls:

  • A thesis in the form of a fragment.
  • A thesis that is overly broad.
  • A thesis that is phrased as a question. (The thesis is usually derived from the solution to the question.)
  • Extraneous information is included in a thesis.
  • A thesis that begins with the words "I believe" or "In my opinion."

Put Down Your First and Second Draft

Now with an outline at hand, it becomes much easier to write. However, your first piece of an autobiography essay is a draft. It is hard to get the essay correctly on the first attempt. You will have to edit the first draft and make a second draft out of it. Depending on how good the essay is now, a third draft may be necessary.

Title drafts in a manner that suggest what they are: “My Autobiography Essay Sample 1”, “My Autobiography Essay Sample 2” and so on.

Proofread

Proofreading is crucial to excellence. An error-filled story will cause people to lose interest regardless of how interesting you’ve told it. Proofread as much as you can, paying special attention to spelling, grammar, punctuation, style, and formatting. If you can afford it, hire a professional proofreader for this purpose.

Request for Feedback

Feedback is necessary before submitting your autobiography essay, even if you used an expert proofreader. Send copies to trusted friends and family to read through and ask for their thoughts. A new perspective may help to identify changes that can be made to the essay.

Autobiography Essay Examples

  • Autobiographical Incident

Autobiographical Incident

  • Autobiography Of A College Student

Autobiography Of A College Student

  • My Autobiography - Example

My Autobiography - Example

What Is Autobiography Essay Structure?

There are three basic parts of an autobiography essay structure. They are the introduction, body, and conclusion.

Introduction

The introduction of your autobiography essay has three primary objectives: to introduce readers to yourself at a surface level, to put forth the very core of your life, and to intrigue the readers so they continue reading.

The introduction has to be concise. In fact, one to three sentences per paragraph is the recommended word count.

The introductory part of your autobiography essay can delineate your general biography and emphasize a statement that will spur others to continue reading.

Body

This is where you tell your story. There are no word restrictions here, unlike your introduction. The body of your autobiography essay should be long enough to cover the facts that you’ve selected to talk about.

However, there are specific rules to the body of your self-written biography. It has to be:

  • Clear, so that it is easy to read and understand;
  • Structured, such that coherence is maintained;
  • Sequential, so that readers have no hard time following chronologically.

Conclusion

The conclusion of your autobiography essay has to be powerful and convincing to leave a lasting impression on readers. This is the part where you evaluate how far you’ve come, the lessons you’ve learned, and offer some solemn words of wisdom. Keep things succinct here. Do not drag the paragraph for too long.

Outline and Format of Autobiography Essay

An autobiography essay outline makes the process much easier. It is the foundation to build your story upon. The outline of your autobiography essay helps arrange the events sequentially and determine what’s needed or not.

  • Introduction:
    • Basic information written in a fascinating manner;
    • Thesis statement — your key points and main idea.
  • Body:
    • Thesis statement;
    • Supporting information — facts, details, reasons, and smooth transitioning throughout the essay
  • Conclusion:
    • Restate the thesis statement.
    • Summarize all ideas.
    • Conclude with your lessons, gratitude, and personal thoughts.

Do You Need an Autobiography Essay Sample? You’re At The Right Place!

While it is obvious that this comprehensive autobiography essay guide has discussed everything to know about writing this type of essay, don’t expect it to be easy for you. There are plenty of requirements and steps to fulfil and take. Besides, you may be unable to make up sufficient time for the process, and you should never rush a biography.

Writing an autobiography essay about yourself needs the help of experts. We, at Studymoose, offer just what you need. Our autobiography essay writing service is top-notch, thanks to the excellent writers on the team. We do not require much information to deliver a great piece.

All you need to do is book an order and fix a deadline.

Also, Check Out The Autobiography Essay Topics

Choosing a topic for your autobiography essay can be tricky because what does one write about? Not to worry, though, let’s look at a list of autobiography essay examples for college. Select any of the topics below and narrow your theme however you choose to.

  • Childhood:
    • Important achievements;
    • First responsibility;
    • Imaginary friend;

First school teacher.

  • Family:
    • Family traditions;
    • The influence of family on your future;
    • Siblings’ relationships.
  • Personality:
    • My inner demons;
    • My personal credo;
    • My biggest challenge;
    • My worst mistake.

You can title your essays “my autobiography essay on family traditions” or any subtopic that you choose to write on.

For more topics, read the following short autobiographies:

  1. There’s No Recipe For Growing Up — Scaachi Koul
  2. The Year I Grew Wildly While Men Looked On — Ashley C. Ford
  3. How I Found Poetry In Childhood Prayer — Kaveh Akbar
  4. Losing Religion and Finding Ecstasy in Houston — Jia Tolentino
  5. My Dad Tried to Kill Me With an Alligator — Harrison Scott Key
  6. A story from your childhood
  7. Your first trip abroad
  8. An episode from your school life
  9. A story of losing a friend
  10. A story of learning a new skill (like playing a musical instrument or surfing)
  11. An embarrassing story that happened to you
  12. A story of you participating in an extracurricular activity, such as playing football or doing gymnastics
  13. An experience attending a concert or sporting event
  14. A story of you helping people in need
  15. A time when you discovered a secret
  16. Talk about a family member who you are bonded to the most
  17. Talk about a class you have taken that was inspirational
  18. Short Story of a Long Life
  19. Steps Forward and Steps Back
  20. Why Not, or How I Have Changed My Life
  21. Being Good in This Cruel World
  22. Why I Don’t Believe in Faith
  23. Decisions and Choices: What If?
  24. Trying to Make a Difference
  25. One, Two, Three: Fight With My Life
  26. Why I Choose A Degree In Engineering
  27. A time you misjudged someone and felt ashamed
  28. The most memorable day at the beach
  29. The best present you have ever received
  30. A story of you getting injured
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FAQ about Autobiography Essay

Autobiography – What life means to me?
...I was still thinking about it when he started to answer my thought by saying "I saw you at the bicycle shop and I was very aware of your passion for bicycles" I was completely astonished that he even knew what I was thinking just by reading my face. ...
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